Fire Emblem: Tales of Anna And Vyrne
by Spydr22
Summary: Eight years after the events of Fire Emblem: Awakening, Anna the merchant comes across a young fox taguel named Vyrne. In this tale inspired by the Spice and Wolf series, follow Anna and her new companion as they set out to conquer the market. Well actually, Anna does most of the conquering, Vyrne just tries to escape.
1. Preface

**This is A story about Gold. **

**Our tale begins about Eight Years after the Legendary Shepherds of Yilsse defeated Grima, the fell dragon, once and for all. **

**After the fall of the fell dragon, the shepherds returned to their "normal" Lives. Most returned home with new family and friends. However, this story is not about the heroes that saved the world.**

**This is A story about a simple Merchant, just trying to make an honest Living. **


	2. Anna The Merchant

**Chapter 1: Vyrne the Taguel**

**"Step right up folks! this is a once in a lifetime opportunity at a once in a lifetime price!" **

**Anna stood atop her wagon with her speaking trumpet still held to her lips. She knew that is was a bit early to be waking people up. But she also knew that Early mornings were the best times for a good sale. She pursed her lips and yelled again. " Come on! I would never disturb the good people of Yilsse without a worthy cause! And believe me, the cause is very worthy!" Anna stopped yelling and looked for any sign of profit. For a moment, all was still. . . Then, she saw him. Out of the corner of her eye, Anna saw a villager peek out from behind his window. That was all the hope that she needed. **

**"Good people of Yilsse," continued Anna, now using her skills as a talented actress. "Tis I, the Anna of the Shepherds!" Here, Anna reached into her pocket and retrieved a pendant that was carried by the legendary shepherds in the days of their travel. she held it high into the air so that the people could see its gleam from their windows. **

**"I bring to you what is a supply of concoctions that can cure any illness in only a matter of days! Alas, it was a long and perilous journey. But it was worth every drop of pain that I had to endure. For I wanted to bestow these gifts upon you, my people!" **

**This time, As Anna stopped Speaking, she saw men, women, and children rushing out of their houses. Many of them were still in their nightclothes as they began to crow around the wagon. Anna now had everyone in the neighborhood under her spell. "All that I ask of you is two-hundred gold per concoction so that I may purchase the supplies needed to travel and gather the rare ingredients for Anna's medical miracle." **

**By noon, Anna had filled two bags of five-thousand gold each. **

**"Eight years and this old thing still works like a charm." Anna sighed as she stretched out on her wagon and held up the pendant that she and the other shepherds had bought at a thrift shop in Plegia for two and one-half gold. "Not bad for an early morning run." The merchant smiled to herself and decided to reward herself with one of her favorite activities-gold counting. Anna whistled happily as she mounted her horse and rode her wagon to a forest on the outskirts of Ylisse. As she rode, looking for a place to park the wagon, Anna couldn't help but notice the autumn leaves that were as golden as the coins inside of the bags that were stuffed into her wagon. **

**_Could today get any more perfect,_****Anna asked herself as she whistled. She looked to her left and then glanced to her right. On her right, she spotted the most beautiful, golden-leafed tree that she had ever seen in her life. "That one," Anna exclaimed as she grabbed her horse's reigns and steered her wagon toward the tree. After reaching the tree, Anna tied down her horse and uncovered the wagon. She hesitated for a moment. Anna surveyed her surroundings carefully. Before she started counting, Anna wanted to make sure that she was alone. So, Anna check one last time after which, she began to unload the bags of gold from her wagon. **

**Once the wagon was unloaded, Anna uncovered the wagon. Even though she had done this plenty of times, Anna still found it hard to look at her wagon is such an empty state. even if it was temporary, the thought of an empty wagon haunted Anna's worst nightmares. Anna shook the thought out of her mind. She had come here to reward herself and that is just what she intended on doing. Anna emptied each bag's contents into her wagon and stripped down to her smallclothes. What Anna called "counting," any other person would call bathing in money. **

**Anna dived into her wagon of gold like A starving beggar would dive into a feast. Anna Squealed with joy as she flung gold into the air as if she were a child splashing in water. "Oh Anna," she laughed as she scooped gold into her hand and let it fall slowly back into the pool of money. "What are you going to do with all of this gold?" Anna flung gold into the air and let it plop back down into her wagon. "Oh I don't know Anna," she replied to herself. "But you're such a beautifully sly girl, I'm sure you'll think of something." Anna hung her head back and let herself dangle from her wagon. With her eyes closed and a smile on her face, Anna drifted into a peaceful sleep. **

**. . . **

**. . . **

**. . . **

**"Hey Lady!" **

**Anna let a small shriek of surprise escape from her mouth as she reached into her gold-filled wagon and drew a Levin sword on her attacker. It took her a second to come to her senses as she realized that her "attacker" was just a boy, a very frightened, nervous boy.**

**"What's the big idea," Anna asked furiously as she slowly put away her weapon. "Didn't anyone ever teach ya not to sneak up on a pretty woman? We can be very aggressive when threatened." **

**"I'm sorry miss," the boy said slowly with a gulp.**

**"Well," Anna asked. she sat up and flung herself out of her wagon. "whataya want?" **

**The young boy turned bright red. he had never seen a woman in her smallclothes before and his mother had taught him that it was impolite to stare. He looked to the ground and mumbled. **

**"Well," Anna demanded as she grabbed her clothes and began to dress herself. "Well?" **

**"it-it's just that I heard about you selling your miracle juice this morning but I was out getting firewood. my sister is really sick so I've been following you all day. I didn't think that I would ever catch up with you." The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sack of gold. "I'd like to buy some miracle juice for my sister please." **

**now dressed, Anna bent down and took the sack of gold from the boy. She opened the sack and poured the gold into her hand. "yeeaah, Sorry kido but you're short about one hundred and fifty gold." **

**"But, that's all that I have," exclaimed the boy with tears forming in his eyes. "I-I can pay you the rest later I promise."**

**"No can do," Anna replied as she slid the gold back into the boy's sack and tossed it to him. "I stopped dealing with credit a while back. Besides, a girl's gotta make a living you know." Anna began to refill her sacks with the gold that had been poured into the wagon. "I wish that there was something that I could do for you. Hope your sister gets better." **

**With that, Anna turned her attention to putting her gold back into her bags. carefully, she counted every single piece of currency to make sure that she wasn't a penny poorer than when she started "counting." **

**After thirty minutes, Anna brushed her hands togther and let out a sigh of releif. She had managed to put all of her gold back into her wagon. she wasn't missing a cent. **

**"Allrighty then," Anna said to herself aloud. "I'll do a quick market run and then it's off to-" As Anna turned to untie her horse, an unpleasant sight caught her eyes. The boy was still sitting under the tree with his head burried into his lap. "You're still here," Anna asked, the annoyance on her face burned bright red. **

**"Yeah," the boy Answered. "I told my mother to give me about a half hour to find you and get the medical miracle. She should be here in a minute." **

**"Where do you guys live again," Anna asked.**

**"Theves villiage," the boy replied. "The one you visited this morning." **

**Anna was silent as she mounted her steed. "Well," she said. "I'll see you around kido." With that, Anna rode toward the entrance back into town. After a few minutes of riding, Anna ran into a woman who was heading into the forest. **

**"Excuse me miss," said the woman. **

**Anna cringed. She hated being called miss. it made her feel old. "yes mam," Anna replied with an extremely forced smile. **

**"Have you seen a child come through here?" The woman had a concerned look on her face. Anna figured that she was probably the mother of the boy from earlier. **

**"Pale, over-emotional, and carrying chump change?" asked Anna as she pointed in the direction from which she had come. "I just saw him about ten minutes back." **

**"Oh thank you miss," said the woman as she hurried into the forest. . . There it was again, . . that word. . . Miss.**

**_Ugh, _****Anna thought as she continued forward. ****_I need a drink. _**


	3. Inigo's Tavern

**Cheers filled the bar as Anna slammed her twenty-fifth mug of ale onto the table. "That'll be seventy-five gold please," she said with a smile. **

**The brute sitting across from her took out a burlap sack and tossed it to Anna as he admitted defeat. "alright boys," Anna yelled. "Who's next? or are you going to let this pretty little face bleed you dry?"**

**"She has to be ready to spew by now," yelled a voice in the crowd. **

**"You're right," another gruff voice agreed. "She can't possibly drink much more."**

**"Now's our chance to get our gold back," stated another man. In a matter of moments, the whole tavern was ready to charge at the chance of getting Anna's winnings. Men and women alike lined up at her table to take a shot at the confident merchant's drinking contest. Things seemed to be looking up for the tavern-dwellers. After all, Anna had already had more than twenty mugs of ale and the odds did seem to be in their favor. So, one by one, the people in the tavern Accepted Ann's challenge and one by one, they all lost their stomachs, their pride, and their gold. After about an hour, Anna was the only one in the tavern who could afford another drink.**

* * *

**Anna slammed what was her two-hundredth mug on the tavern bar and laid her head on the wooden surface.**

**"I'd-," started a nauseous Anna as a hiccup interrupted her. "I'd like another please." **

**"Come now Anna," said the bar-tender as he brought Anna another mug of ale. "don't you think that you've had enough for one night?" The bar tender looked at his friend with worried eyes. "Besides, shouldn't a beautiful woman such as yourself be trying to settle down?"**

**"Settle Down?" Anna asked as if she had just been called miss again. Anna looked up at the young bartender and laughed. "Look inigo," she said, regaining her composure. "There's still a lot more gold for this merchant to make." **

**"Come now," Inigo insisted. The young bartender walked over to where Anna sat and leaned on the wooden surface that separated them. "Don't tell me that the thought's never crossed your mind." **

**Anna turned her mug up to her mouth and began to drink. As the Ale flowed down her throat, Anna's mind began to ponder over the bartender's words. As a matter of fact, Anna had thought about settling down quite a few times. Although, the thought usually only bothered her at night when she was on long trips. But, here it was today. . . for the second time. **

**Anna's mind flashed back to earlier that afternoon when she had encountered that young boy's mother. On the way into town, Anna had wondered if she would ever look like that one day-like a mother. Would there come a day when she would care about something or someone more than money?**

**Anna slammed the empty mug of ale onto the bar as she shook the thoughts out of her head. "Nope," she replied with a smile. "I'm not the 'settle down' type kid. you'll understand when you're older." Anna stood up from the bar. She figured that she'd better take her leave if she planned to get to the next town early enough for another morning sale. "Well I gotta get going, kid," said Anna as she stood from the bar. she reached into her pocket and flipped a gold coin into Inigo's open palm before heading toward the tavern exit.**

**"Umm Anna," Yelled Inigo from the bar. "This is only one gold."**

**"Too big of a tip for you?" asked Anna.**

**Realizing how lucky he was to even get a tip from Anna, Inigo swallowed his words and tucked the coin away before she could come back and take it from him. "happy travels!" **

**Anna gave Inigo one last glare before continuing to the exit. ****_Okay, _****Anna thought. ****_No tip for him next time I visi-_**

**Just then, Anna's thought were interrupted by the most devastating words that she had ever heard. A man crashed into the tavern. His arm was bleeding and his body was scratched throughout. But that's not what pierced Anna's heart. The man spoke words that Anna had never even dreamed of hearing. **

**"Miss Anna," the man said, clutching his injured arm. "I'm sorry but. . . your wagon's been stolen." **


	4. Wagon Theif

**_Damn, _****Thought Anna. ****_Where did today go wrong?_**

**Anna found herself stumbling through the same forest in which, mere hours ago, Anna had bathed in her gold. now, she found herself nearly blinded by darkness and attempting to track her stolen wagon. ****_Maybe I should've accepted Inigo's search party after all. _**** The young bartender had offered to send a search party with her. But Anna was afraid that after they retrieved the wagon, the men would want the money that they had lost in the drinking contest as a reward. **

**Anna kneeled down and brushed her hand against the cool, dry ground, searching for a hoof print or her wagon's tracks. As Anna grazed the ground in the darkness, her fingers came across an imprint that she knew belonged to her custom-made horseshoes. **

**_Alright, _****thought Anna as she peered in the direction that the print faced, ****_the bastard's headed south. Looks like I'm in luck after all. _****Anna smiled. Whoever stole her wagon was stupid enough to attempt to go through the woods in the dark instead of taking the merchant path that was free of trees and harsh terrain. ****_If I run the path fast enough, I should be able to cut them off before they get too far south. _****Naturally, being a merchant, it took only a matter of moments for Anna to locate the path on which she had traveled so many times. **

**Once she reached the path, Anna began to run faster than she had ever run in her life. **

**Anna ran and ran until she reached the end of the Merchant path that merged with the rough, dark woods that were now behind her. ****_Made it, _****Anna thought as she wiped her brow. ****_I just hope that whoever decided to steal my cart didn't get here first. _**

**Anna took a second to catch her breath and then headed to the side of the path. There, on the side of the path, sat a small cave. Anna entered the cave, sat on a stone, and drew her Levin sword. **

**_Let the wait begin_**

* * *

******Riding through the now-rainy forest, a small, cloaked figure sat atop Anna's horse as it clumsily clopped, stumbled, and splashed over tree roots. "How the heck am I supposed to guide this thing," whined the figure to itself aloud. "This was much easier when I planned it out in my head earlier. Now I'm cold, it's dark, and I'm drenched in rain." Anna's horse stumbled on another tree root. Jumping with surprise, the figure clung to the back of the stallion with its hands and feet. The figure scrambled and squirmed around on the horse's back in a vain attempt to place itself in an upright position but all it managed to accomplish was putting itself in an even worse position. Now the figure desperately clung to the horse's side. "Excuse me," the figure strained. "Mr. Horse, would you mind stopping so that I can reposition myself on your back?" The horse responded by continuing its sloppy trot through the forest, splashing a puddle of water onto the figure's cloak. "I don't know why I ever thought that would work," the figure sighed. Then suddenly, the horse stopped. A surprised figure lifted itself up in confusion. "Wow, I can't believe that wor-"**

**Before the figure could finish its sentence, the horse took off at full speed, Flinging the figure back into its side-clenching position. "Please Stop," the figure screamed desperately, hoping that the horse would once again heed his command. "Please!" At this rate the figure knew that he would lose his grip and be trampled by the horse and the wagon that it carried. all he could do was hold on for dear life. But wait, there was something else. The figure dug his hands and feet into the horse's side as he removed one hand from the beast and reached into his cloak pocket. "Almost Got it." The figure strained as he fumbled around in his pocket. he glanced up for a quick second and then quickly returned to searching his pocket. This time, he searched desperately. Through the darkness, the figure saw that his stolen steed was fast approaching a cliff. "Come on come on come on," he chanted. Then the figure's fingers came across a small, round amber stone. "Got it," he exclaimed with excitement. The figure pulled the stone from his pocket and it began to radiate a strange light. However, just as the light began to emit from the strange sphere, the horse, the wagon, and the figure were launched into the air. The figure fell, screaming in terror as his stone slid from his hands. There was a flash of bright light, then nothing. **


	5. Contract

**Vyrne the taguel slowly opened his eyes to the sweet scent of roasting meat. "I'm . . . alive?" The fact remained that Vyrne was surprised that he could open his eyes at all. After all, the last thing that he remembered was being hurled off of a cliff by that insane horse. As Vyrne's mind reminded him of last night's mishap, he looked to his left and right in search of the horse and wagon; both of which, were nowhere to be found. ****_But that's a problem for later, _****Vyrne thought to himself. ****_Right now I have got to find out where that smell is coming from. _****Vyrne's stomach began to growl. So he figured that it was time to set off in search of breakfast. However, as Vyrne tried to move, he found that his body wouldn't budge. **

**Vyrne looked down-or up rather to find that he was tightly bound by rope and hanging upside down from a tree limb in a forest clearing. Vyrne also found that, other than the rope that bound him to the tree, he was completely naked. ****_Oh Man,_**** Vyrne thought as he squirmed back and forth attempting to free himself. ****_What if They know I'm Taguel? What if they're poachers? What if I've been captured by poachers? They'll cut my fur off and sell it! There's no way I'll grow all of my fur back by winter! I'll freeze to death!_**

**"Help!" Vyrne cried as he squirmed. "Somebody help me!" Suddenly, his ear heard a rustle in the bushes and he was relieved to see the horse slowly trot out from the forest. "Thank Naga it's you," Vyrne sighed. "Now be a good horse and come chew me out of these ropes. The horse proceeded to take a few steps over to the left before sitting down and resting. "Hey!" Vyrne yelled. "you can rest later Come and get me out of these Ro-" Vyrne's heart dropped as a second figure emerged from the forest. He recognized her instantly from the scent. She smelled of both human and gold. **

**"Hey so you're alive," said Anna as she stepped out from behind the shrubs. Her words were slightly muffled as she was hungrily munching on a roasted deer's leg. "You know, " she said as she lazily approached her captive. "You almost caught me by surprise with that cliff Dive. That was pretty stupid. Plus I had originally planned to fry your brains out." Anna reached down and tapped the Levin sword that was strapped to her right thigh . **

**"Wha-What stopped you," Vyrne asked, finally mustering the courage to speak. Anna kneeled down in front of Vyrne so that their eyes met and pressed her breakfast against his cheek. The smell of the meat was driving him insane with hunger. But the meat was too far for his tongue to reach. He tried his best to keep a straight face throughout his torture. Apparently, he wasn't doing very well because the merchant woman only gave him a sadistic smile. **

**"Well actually, if you had died I would've just skinned you and sold your fur. But since you're alive, I'm kind of curious as to what a Taguel kid is doing around here." **

**"Taguel?" Vyrne responded, attempting to play dumb. "What like in those bedtimes stories or something? Never heard of em'. " He was hoping that his routine had some effect. Heck, at this point, he would have taken any effect at all. But all the merchant did was stare at him with an unamused look. **

**"You've got fox ears kid," replied Anna. She violently yanked on of Vyrne's ears to prove her point. "Plus," she said, reaching into a pouch on her belt. "This thing fell from the cliff along with all of my inventory." In her hand, the merchant woman held Vyrne's orange beast-stone. "Useless now though," she said. Anna held the stone up to Vyrne so that he could see the deep crack that ran through the stone, severing its power. "Although I'm sure it could still be worth something if I market it right." **

**"I'm not a taguel," Vyrne insisted, sticking to his story. "I lost my ears when I was young so my father found fox ears and sewed them onto my head. My mother put a spell on them that allows them to work. As for the stone," he said, confident in his lie. "I just found it on the beach one day. I've carried it with me ever since." **

**"uh-huh," Anna said, still unamused. She lifted her hand and yanked a bush of fur from Vyrne's head and held it in front of his eyes "Then why is it that where everywhere human hair grows, your body grows fox hair?" Anna stood up and walked around her captive. "And I do mean Everywhere." **

**"Ok oK, I'm a taguel" admitted Vyrne as his skin burned bright red. "Just stop looking at me you old pervert!" Anna's eye twitched and she drew her Levin sword. With a flick of her wrist she gave Vyrne a small, but painful shock. **

**"I am not old," she insisted, completely ignoring the fact the she was just accused of being a pervert. **

**"S-So what do you want from me?," Vyrne wheezed. "I won't steal from you again. promise." **

**Anna returned to her former position on the ground, looking into Vyrne's eyes. "What do I want?" Anna asked with a smile. "Why, I want what you want. I just want to cut you down from here so that we can go on our merry way." **

**"Really," Vyrne asked. his ears perked with joy. **

**"Why of course," Anna said with a smile. She drew her sword again only this time, she cut Vyrne's right hand free. Anna proceeded to remove a piece of parchment from her pocket and a bottle of ink from a pouch in her belt. She unraveled the parchment in front of Vyrne. "Just put a finger slash paw-print here and I'll let you loose. Hell kid, I won't even turn you in to the authorities." **

**Vyrne looked into his captor's eyes. After a moment her found sincerity. "Well ok then." Vyrne proceeded to dip his index finger into the ink bottle and place it on a line at the bottom of the parchment.**

**"Wonderful," squealed Anna with delight as she quickly put away the parchment and ink. She stood and cut Vyrne down with a single swipe of her sword. Anna ran over to her hose and removed a pair of clothes and a cloak from her saddlebag. She threw them down in front of Vyrne. "now go get changed," she commanded. "We leave in an hour." **

**"Excuse me?" Vyrne was startled by the merchant's choice of words. "Did you say 'we' ?" **

**"yes I did," responded Anna as she packed her saddlebag without even glancing at the taguel child. "As in both of us." **

**"I'm sorry miss," Vyrne started as he pointed in the opposite direction. "But I'm going that way." **

**"No," Anna injected, she reached into her saddlebag, retrieved the parchment, and handed it to the Taguel boy. "Until you pay me back for the inventory that you broke in that fancy cliff dive of yours, you go whichever way I tell you to go." Vyrne, not believing how blunt this woman could be, stumbled forward and took the parchment. As he read through what was actually a contract, his heart sank lower and lower. By the time he finished reading, Vyrne was paralyzed with shock. **

**"You're not serious!" Vyrne yelled. "This-This doesn't count!" **

**"Sure it does kid," replied Anna calmly as she smiled at the young Taguel and patted him on the head. "You signed it."**

**With a rapid flick of her wrist, Anna yanked the contract out of Vyrne's hands. As if watching his life slip away from him, Vyrne made several desperate clawing motions at the parchment. Sadly, his attempts at getting his "life" back were met with a swift but strong punch to the face. **

**As Vyrne waddled back in recoil, Anna gripped the boy's head with her fingers. Instantly stilled by the strength of Anna's grip, Vyrne stood motionless as Anna knelt down and spoke words that made his heart sink even lower. **

**"Listen kid," she started. "Let me lay down the situation for you. You stole my wagon, my horse, and my inventory. Then, you rode out into the night with my stuff, crashed my wagon, caused my horse to lose a shoe, and destroyed a good 25 percent of my inventory. If I count correctly that's three charges of thievery, three charges of possession of a stolen item, and three charges of property destruction. That's about 45,000 in gold and possibly some time in prison. Now, if you want, I could always alert the authorities and put you on trial. Would you like that?" **

**"No miss," yelled Vyrne quickly. He knew what happened to young boys in prison. **

**With that, the merchant released her grip on the Taguel boy and smiled. "Then in that case," she said. "You'll shut up and do what I say from now on. Ok?" **

**"Yes Miss," Vyrne replied. He began to size up the woman who had just threatened to kidnap him. She had returned to packing some things into her saddle bag and even had the audacity to whistle while she packed. If his beast-stone wasn't broken he could end this nightmare here and now. But it was. Vyrne figured that he would have to play along until he found a chance to escape. **

**"So, Miss," Vyrne began as he put on his shirt and trousers. "Where are yo-I mean 'we' headed anyway?"**

**"Well for starters," replied the red-haired woman. She threw the Saddle bag onto the horse's back and proceeded to adjust her saddle. "We're going to see if we can't get more of this Miracle concoction. It's about a week's journey north." **

**"Wait," Vyrne said. "The same concoction that required a perilous journey?" **

**"Yep," Anna replied . "That's the one." She turned to him and pressed her index finger to her chin as she spoke. "That's not going to be a problem now is it?"**

**"No Miss," Vyrne said quickly, faking a smile. "Of course not." **

**"good," Answered Anna. "then follow me." She grabbed her horse's reins and led it through the forest from which they emerged. **

**_Now's my chance,_****Vyrne thought. He waited for the sound of footsteps and horseshoes to become faint. Once he was sure that nothing could be heard, Vyrne turned and took a step in the opposite direction. He had planned to sprint off in the opposite direction. **

**However, before his foot could touch the ground, a bolt of lightning emerged from the forest and struck him to the ground. Vyrne twitched in pain as electricity seared through his body. **

**"Nice Try!" The merchant woman's loud voice sounded through the trees. "We're in the clearing!"**

**Still aching from the strike, Vyrne pushed himself up. "Oh man," he groaned. "What Have I gotten myself into?" **


	6. North It Is Then

**A slightly-charred Vyrne made his way into a small clearing in the forest where he found the horse, the repaired wagon , and his red-haired captor waiting for him. **

**"Took you long enough," said the woman as she hopped down from the seat of the wagon. The red-haired merchant stormed over to Vyrne and took him by the hand. **

**"What's your name kid," she asked as she dragged him toward the wagon. **

**"My-," Vyrne stuttered as he tried to keep up with the woman's brisk pacing. "My name is Vyrne." **

**"Vyrne huh," The woman said. "Not that bad of a name I guess." Finally finished dragging him, Anna and Vyrne stopped at the back of the wagon. "Well Vyrne," She said, releasing his hand. "Do you know what this is?" **

**"Um..." Vyrne began, confusedly. "It's a wagon."**

**"Not just any wagon," The merchant said, speaking as if she were doing another sales pitch. She smiled. "Thanks to our little agreement, this is also where you'll be eating, sleeping, and conducting business until you pay off your life-debt. Now hop on in!"**

**Vyrne's jaw dropped. Anna's wagon was packed with sacks of gold and merchandise. There was barely enough room for his head - let alone his entire body. It didn't even have a covering to protect him from the elements. **

**Vyrne looked up at the smiling merchant and desperately searched for a sign that this was all a big joke. "Miss, you can't be serious," he asked. **

**"Deadly serious," Anna responded. "Now get in the wagon." With that, the merchant headed toward her horse and heaved herself onto the saddle. **

**"But-," began Vyrne. But his words halted as he saw the woman place her hand on the hilt of her Levin Sword. **

**"The wagon," The merchant commanded. "Get in it." **

**"Yes Miss." With that, Vyrne closed his eyes and crawled head first into the heap of sacks and crates. **

**"That's another thing," The woman said as she commanded her horse to move forward. "From here on out, you are to address me as Mistress Anna. Got it Kid?"**

**Vyrne poked his head to the surface of the crates and sacks of gold, the rest of his body remained completely buried. **

**"yes Mistress Anna," Vyrne sighed angrily. ****_You just wait until I escape old lady._**

**"Goody," Anna said with a smile. "Then we're off. I've gotta head into town and make a delivery first so feel free to get some rest. It'll be a while before we start heading north." **

**_Please,_****Vyrne thought as he began planning his next escape attempt. ****_As soon as it gets dark, I'm out of here._**

**"Oh, I almost forgot to ask you," Anna said. "Why did you try to steal my wagon anyways?"**

**Vyrne's eyes opened wide. For a moment, he had almost forgotten the reason himself. **

**"I," Vyrne began. "I heard about your sale that morning. I thought that what you were doing was amazing, even if you were charging people for it. But then. . ." **

**"But then what," Anna asked, egging him to continue. **

**"But then," Vyrne began. He stared down at the sacks of gold as he spoke and twiddled his fingers beneath the wagon's surface. "But then I saw you deny that boy's sister just because he didn't have the money. So, I wanted to bring her enough concoction to get better." **

**"Wow," said Anna. "you've got a heart of gold kid. We're going to have to do something about that."**

* * *

**Night had fallen by the time Anna and her new companion rode back into town. Normally, it wouldn't have taken her so long to get back, but Vyrne had tried to escape three times since they set out. **

**"Sheesh," sighed an exhausted Anna as she looked down at the unconscious Taguel boy lying atop the gold in her wagon. Nearly all of his fur was singed with black and he smelled of fried fox meat. The scent was making Anna hungry. ''What am I gonna do with you?'' **

**Anna and her wagon rolled a little further until they stopped at a collection of little cottages. Anna leapt from the driver's seat and onto the ground. She walked over to the back of the wagon and reached into one of the many bags of gold. She was especially careful not to wake her new partner. Taking a small burlap sack from the bag, Anna headed toward the nearest house. She knocked on the door. **

**"Coming," answered a woman's voice from behind the door. "Oh,'' said the woman that she had met in the forest earlier as she opened the door, ''It's you again. How may I help you?"**

**"Well I-,"began Anna before being interrupted by the voice of a little boy. **

**"Is that the doctor mommy," the boy asked, running to his mother's side. "Oh," he said in a disappointed tone as he saw Anna standing in the doorway. ''it's just you.''**

**''Look I-" Anna began again only to be interrupted for a second time. This time, it came from the boy's mother. **

**''Don't be rude,'' she said to her son, smacking the back of his head with the palm of her hand. ''This woman was a Shepherd of yilsse! Show some respect!"**

**"ouch,'' the boy exclaimed, rubbing his head. ''Sorry miss,'' he said to Anna. **

**''Here,'' said a frustrated Anna, shoving the sack into the mother's hands. ''That should take care of your daughter. Good night.''**

**''Oh but miss,'' the mother began as Anna turned and walked away. . ''We haven't the money.'''**

**''Don't worry about it,'' Anna said as she walked back toward her wagon, ''it's been paid in full.''**

**An exhausted Anna took a sigh of relief as she loaded one last bag of provisions onto the back of her wagon and hopped onto the wagon's seat. **

**''glad that's finally taken care of, '' she muttered to herself. **

**Anna looked up to the stars as she stretched her back. Much to her surprise, Vyrne was still sleeping like a newborn baby. If he hadn't tried to steal her entire week's earnings earlier, she may have even thought that he looked peaceful. **

**'''Meh,'' she said, gripping her horse's reins. ''North it is then.''**


End file.
